The Psychology of MONEY

The Psychology of MONEY

The Midas Complex: How Money Drives Us Crazy and What We Can Do About It.

General description course

Money is much more than a piece of paper, a coin, plastic card or number in an account. It is also a psychological complex as powerful and multifaceted as any other in psychology. This Webinar is about the deep psychology of Money. We will discuss the various ways in which Money affects us, both individually and as an entire culture. The goal of the webinar is to become more aware of the ways in which Money can, often unconsciously, impact the major decisions and choices we make in life. What we can bring into consciousness has the potential to give us greater freedom and fulfillment in how we shape our lives.

Topic each week

Class 1: The Evolution of Money: What exactly is Money? Where did it come from? Why do we need it? We will unpack the phenomena of Money in all its myriad forms, as vast and complex as the Gods and Goddesses of cultures throughout time and place. We capitalize the word, because in many ways, Money has actually taken on the form of a God in many cultures today.

Class 2: The Deep Psychology of Money: Money is a powerful maker of human identity and culture. We will examine Money’s impacts on Psyche. How Money can affect our personal sense of worth, our relationships, our choices in life, work, education, family dynamics, mental, spiritual and physical health, intimate partnerships and more.

Class 3: The Psychopathologies of Money: Our title says: Money drives us crazy. How so? We will discuss the many ways in which individuals, families, communities and nations suffer due to their, often unconscious, relationships to money. We will detail the specific pathologies that can be directly attributed to crazy-making engagements with Money, and, opening toward week 4, begin to examine ways in which can liberate ourselves from Money as a force of possession in our psyches.

Class 4: Beyond Money: What might it be like to live with greater freedom and insight into Money’s influence on our lives? Depth psychology says: We become possessed by what we fail to commune with. We will consider what it means to have a conscious relationship to Money, to better assure that it stays in its proper place in our lives—as a tool—and does not possess and take us over—as a drug.

About the speaker: Aaron Kipnis, Ph.D. is Professor Emeritus at Pacifica Graduate Institute. He is author of The Midas Complex: How Money Drives Us Crazy and What We Can Do About It (2013), Knights Without Armor (1991/2004) and Angry Young Men (1999); coauthor of What Women and Men Really Want (1995), and contributor to many anthologies. He is the producer of an award winning, documentary film, AWAKENING (2006), about how women in the poorest regions of Afghanistan and India are liberating their families from severe poverty. Aaron is a licensed clinical psychologist in California. He spends most of his time on Salt Spring Island, B.C.